Amazon reportedly plans on operating its futuristic supermarkets with a minimal amount of humans.
Much of the staff at the prospective automated grocery stores would be robots, according to the New York Post.
“Amazon will utilize technology to minimize labor,” a source close to the situation told the New York Post. Amazon, though, denies the reports that it is building such a store, according to both the Post and Business Insider.
Internal documents show that the electronic commerce and cloud computing company is exploring the possibility of opening 2,000 supermarkets over the next decade, to further expand on its already established grocery services, like AmazonFresh.
The company recently introduced an advanced convenience store called Amazon Go, “a new kind of store featuring the world’s most advanced shopping technology.”
The Amazon Go stores would utilize “just walk out technology” like “computer vision,” “deep learning algorithms,” and “sensor fusion” that will lead to “no lines” and “no checkout,” according to an official promotional video.
The modernized supermarkets would reportedly be bigger and have a wider variety of goods than the Amazon Go venues.
Developers of the store want there to be a maximum of 10 human workers per location during all shifts, reports The Post.
Using automation instead of humans for the supply chain and distribution processes is becoming exponentially more common, especially for Amazon. The company has been testing drone technology for delivery purposes, indicating that it likely wants to decrease the amount of human deliverers.
The company filed a patent for “airborne fulfillment centers” (AFC) last year, which would essentially serve as flying warehouses. The AFCs would be equipped with drones that ship the products from the hovering bases to the consumers.
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